Halo: Evolution
by Autobot Slipstream
Summary: Kelly, John, Sam, and Emily have been together since the beginning. They made it through augmantations, missions, missing teammates, near-fatal battle injuries, and a lot more. This is the story of how their journey began.
1. Chapter 1

I** know. Bad Author. but anyway. I dont own Halo (I wish I did though...some Coveys blew up my proof...well actually it was Chief but anyway. If I did Cortana wouldn't've died. And Kelly would actually be in the games as a playable character. Sheesh.) So** anything** recognizable belongs to Bungie.**

The four teens ran around the field in one of their rare free times, enjoying the feeling of freedom it gave of them, a tall boy, called out: "Kelly! Emily! Wait up!"  
The girls called back, "No way, Sam!"  
One, with short blue-dyed hair, added "We're trying to make you better. You're slow."

Sam groaned. "Yes, we know you're faster than us. Now wait up."

Kelly sighed as she and Emily spun around and ran back to the boys.

The shorter boy laughed at the expressions on the girls' faces.  
Kelly promptly slapped him.  
"Hey!" Emily yelled. "You guys! We'll all be fourteen within two weeks, let's act like it!"  
They looked at each other a moment before dissolving into laughter.

A whistle echoed over the hubbub of the Spartans-in-training. "Back to work! In your units!" called out their instructor.  
"Um...we already are..." Kelly muttered, stifling her laugh.  
"Sim combat today, cadets! Let's go, armor up!"  
The kids raced toward the building, quickly opening their lockers and sliding their armor on and grabbing their weapons. They raced back outside and stood at attention.

"Board the Pelicans, go, go, go!" the instructor yelled, waving the kids onto the ships. Emily, Sam, Kelly, and John raced onto the nearest Pelican, taking seats near the front of the ship.  
"Capture the flag today, cadets. Team who loses doesn't get dinner. 117, 034, 087, 147, Team One. You'll be with some others. Everybody else, Team Two."  
Groans echoed around the Pelican. "No fair."  
"Too bad." snapped the instructor. "Nearing drop point. Get ready. Go, go, go!" He waved them off the ship. They dropped into dirt by a wall and scrambled up for cover.

Sam, Kelly, and Emily looked to John as the de facto leader. He glanced around and pointed toward the One base.

They ran for the base. Kelly and Emily easily took the lead. They sped through the gate and spun, heels screeching against the earth to stop them.  
The four shared a look and split up, Kelly and John going left, Sam and Emily heading right. More cadets congregated in the main area of the base.

John looked at his teammates, his best friends. They were the leaders of this team, like it or not.  
John turned and addressed the small group of kids in the center of the base. "Fred, Linda, Malcolm, Maria, Grace: take east flank. Naomi, Daisy, Kurt, Isaac, Victor: west flank. Adriana, lead the rest on a direct assault. You and Arthur are in charge of the main assault. Com me, Kelly, Sam, or Emily for assistance. We'll be running around somewhere."  
The designated group leaders nodded and split off into their groups, planning their part of the assault.

John went down to talk to Fred, while Emily talked to Adriana, and Kelly spoke to Naomi. Sam, left to fend for himself, took three kids from Adriana's group and went up top to keep a lookout.  
"Alright!" shouted John. "Let's move out!"  
The kids roared in appreciation and, staying with their groups, moved through the doorway out toward the Team Two base and their objective.

Sam commed John. "Team Two incoming from left and front."  
"I see them," John replied. "Emily, Bridget, Alice! Take left while the others attack! Kelly, Sam, with me! We'll take the front!"  
Emily nodded, and she and her two comrades went out to engage Team Two. Sam raced down, throwing a quick order to stay and report to his 'eagles' up top, ran down, joining Kelly and John at the door.  
They joined the fray, attacking those Twos approaching from the front.  
Kelly glanced at John.  
He knew that look. Kelly ran toward John, baffling their opponents. She reached him, and when she stepped on his hands fingersaced together like a step, he launched her into the air. Kelly shot above the fray, shooting down Twos, and kicked some down when she landed.

Having landed in the center of the Two's forces, Kelly engaged the one who'd been nominated to lead them, a kid named Michael, tagnumber 032. She easily took him down, and by that time, John had fought his way to her side. Sam was off a few feet, fighting off the kids who didn't want to fight against Kelly or John. Kelly looked ahead. "Linda, Fred, Daisy, Adri, Arthur, Naomi: all clear." she commed ahead.  
"Acknowledged." the others said in unison. A moment later, the groups charged the Team Two fortress.

The Twos heard the cheer of the charging groups, turned, and groaned collectively.

Well, those who could stand.

"I knew we shouldn't have let Michael be in charge. He's a great fighter but terrible at strategy." one complained.

"It's over. Forget it." another said.  
Kelly, John, Emily, and Sam exchanged a slightly smug, slightly guilty look as their teammates carried the Twos' flag out of their fortress.

Emily laughed as she helped a Two up. "Hey, they fought the good fight, and we know they can work together. So if they can work together, they can work with us when it's necessary."  
John nodded absently as the Pelicans landed to pick them up and take them back to the base. Everyone who had been a Two refused to look at John, Kelly, Sam, and Emily. When they did, their glares were full of resentment. Landing back at the base, everyone took off their armor.  
And some of them went straight to their beds, while others went to eat.


	2. Chapter 2

Back!** Did you miss me? Author's word, I've been working on it whenever I had free time...I hope this new chapter is up to par. Reviews fuel the muse, remember. **

~Two week timeskip~

"We're all fourteen. Every last one of us." Sam said. "Hard to believe we've been in this together for eight years now.

Emily, Kelly, and John nodded in agreement.

"Alright, cadets! Go back to your rooms. Change into the clothes laid out for you there and be back out here, seated, so we can line you up!" screamed an instructor.  
"Why?" Sam mumbled. "What the heck?"  
"Don't know but I think we should." Kelly replied in the same voice level.

"So much for our quiet time," added Emily with a sigh.

They raced back to their rooms and changed.  
They were the first ones back to the mess hall.

Everyone else arrived shortly after. The instructors began calling out names, lining them up. When they were all lined up, they were marched into a room and instructed to stay in their lines.  
The ones in front were taken through the doorway.  
Sam blinked. He'd be the first of his unit to go, because they were lined up by their numbers.  
He was in the 30s. Kelly, an 80. And John and Emily were in the hundreds.  
The line moved forward again.  
He'd be in the second of the next two groups.  
Sam resigned himself to his fate.

The line stayed still for a long while, about twenty to thirty minutes in between line movements.  
At least, that's what Kelly thought. Sam had just gone through that doorway, and she was the next of the group of them that had been friends since the beginning, eight long years ago.  
She glanced back at John. She couldn't see Emily. They were too far apart.  
John gave her a reassuring smile. The smile she liked so much. Kelly smiled back at her friend, in the same way, though a little worried.  
The line moved again. Kelly looked forward. She was so close to that door, that yawning darkness that they didn't know what lay beyond it.  
Kelly nervously rubbed an arm. What could be happening beyond that doorway?  
A scream echoed from beyond the doorway. Everyone involutarily stepped back.  
The scream petered out.  
Kelly blinked.  
The line moved forward again.

The line moved again, and again, and soon Kelly was at the front.  
She waited.  
Soon enough, she was being beckoned through the door. She smiled at everyone before walking through.

John tapped a foot. More out of boredom than nerves. Ahead of him, he saw Kelly smile at them all, then walk into that black doorway. Behind him, Emily was laughing quietly to herself, no doubt at some joke he told yesterday and just randomly came up in her head. She did that sometimes.  
He'd heard the scream earlier-who had it been? Linda? Daisy? Naomi? Maria? He honestly didn't know, but he was definitely worried about who it had been. They were like one big family. They were close, having essentially grown up together. John had seen two members of his group go through that doorway. Sam, who was like his brother, and Kelly.  
John didn't even know what he thought of Kelly anymore. It definitely wasn't the same friendship they'd had. Nothing had changed between him and Sam, or him and Em, but with Kelly things were a whole different story.  
He wondered if Kelly felt the same way.  
In his musings, John hadn't noticed that the line had moved up multiple times. He walked forward so he was right behind again. Just as he moves up, the line moved again so John was right at the front, Emily three rows behind him. She gave him a thumbs-up when he looked back.  
He returned the thumbs-up, and turned back to the front.  
And waited.  
Finally he moved up and through the doorway. A doctor led him down a long halllway to a room at the end. There was a bed in the middle of the room that wasn't really a bed, more like a table that started upright and you could pull it flat.  
The doctor instructed him to put his back against the table-thing. Restraints snapped around his wrists and ankles.  
"Safety precaution." the doc said in reply to his look.  
A few more doctors entered, one wheeling a cart laden with needles and syringes and IVs of all sorts. Just the sight made John nervous.  
The table slid down to a horizontal position.  
John relaxed and closed his eyes. Might as well not make it hurt more than it had to.

Emily stared ahead of her, into the black void of the doorway. She was the last of her group.  
And she was scared. She admitted it. She was terrified of what was past that doorway. Occasionally they heard beeps or squeaking wheels, a groan or a scream, but for the most part it was silent.  
After what seemed like an eternity, it was her turn.  
She was led down a twisting hallway...to what felt like her doom.

Strapped onto a table, Emily bit her lip to keep from screaming as she had injections on almost every bit of exposed skin. Tears came to her eyes, and as soon as the needles were removed, she began to struggle against the shackles that held her.

She stopped as soon as she heard the moan from outside her door. A figure was being rushed past her door on a gurney. One of the guys.  
She decided it was better to get it overwith soon.

And she hoped fervently they all made it through whatever this was.


End file.
